The New York Yacht Club won its fifth consecutive Hinman Masters Team Race over the weekend, taking the best-of-five championship series 3-1 against Eastport Yacht Club of Annapolis, Md., at Harbour Court.
The 24th edition ran Aug. 14-16. NYYC Levesque and Eastport were the class of the round robin, with the host team going 16-2 and Eastport, made up largely of Naval Academy alumni, finishing 14-4. Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club of Centre Island, N.Y., took third.
Eastport won the opening race of the final after New York started one boat over the line early and picked up a two-circle penalty. New York again had a boat over early in the second race and drew another penalty, rounding the first mark in the unfavorable position. Skipper Clay Bischoff, leading the race, slowed things down to let his teammates recover.
“We had current going upwind, so that allows the lead boat to do some damage on trapping,” Bischoff said. “My goal was just to create havoc. You just got to be ready to jump on the opportunity. That was a turning point for the series.”
New York took control by the second mark and held the winning combination from the fourth mark to the finish. The final two races were more straightforward — in the clincher, the team rounded the first mark in first, second and third.
The win came a week after Pete Levesque captained NYYC to its first Morgan Cup title in 11 years. Bischoff sailed against him in that final, for Larchmont Yacht Club.
“It’s a really special opportunity to sail with Pete and Caroline,” Bischoff said of Levesque and his wife. “We’ve been friends and sometimes rivals going back 25 years.”
“I’d way rather have Clay on my team than not,” Levesque said.
Third skipper Brian Doyle noted his own streak with crewmate Shane Wells: five straight Hinman Masters together, all wins.
The Hinman Masters, created in 2000, requires skippers to be at least 45 and crew over 40. It is the oldest of the club’s four adult team races, all sailed each August at Harbour Court in the club’s fleet of 22 Sonar keelboats.
The Grandmasters Team Race runs Aug. 21-23, followed by the Great Grandmasters Aug. 27-28.
Winning team: Pete Levesque (skipper and team captain), Amy Ironmonger, Bill Lynn, Kaitlin Potts, Brian Doyle (skipper), Whit Rugg, Shane Wells, Whitney Peterson, Clay Bischoff (skipper), Ernie Bourassa, Ben Gent and Caroline Levesque.
